Shoes
by goldenstarfc
Summary: Jim Moriarty and Carl Powers- the nerds. Sebastian Moran- the cool kid. The three- some of the world's closest friends. But things were about to change, and nobody would have a clue.
1. One - Noteworthy

The most popular kid in the school was, as everyone knew, Sebastian Moran. Something nobody knew? Why the kid bothered with Jim Moriarty and Carl Powers. The pair was the textbook definition of 'nerd', while Sebastian was that of 'cool'. Sebastian was extremely athletic, and had such a presence when he entered a room that everyone knew 'hey, that kid's a big deal.' He had a 'don't-care' attitude, and still managed to keep his grades no lower than a B. He cracked jokes in every class, but he didn't pick on anyone- the closest he ever got was lighthearted teasing. Yeah, that was cool.

Jim and Carl, however... well, Jim was smart. Really smart. But being a straight A student at Claycrest Middle School was not necessarily a good thing. It essentially screamed, 'hey, look who's a teacher's pet! Hey, look who tries too hard!' Jim hardly even talked, always thinking about this, that, or the other thing.

Then you had Carl. Now, while getting straight As isn't cool, that didn't mean getting all Fs was, either. All Fs meant, 'wow, look who's stupid.' All Fs meant you were an idiot and you were hopeless. Carl was the kid that was always babbling on about his limited edition action figures and comic books. He had rectangular, metal glasses that always slid down his nose- worse, they were transition lenses- and even his name seemed to scream 'nerd'. You could only find the pair eating in the cafeteria at lunch on a rare occasion- more often than not, they would be in the computer lab, just messing around with the computers.

It was one of those rare days that Carl and Jim were in the cafeteria. Carl blabbing on about some nerdy thing that Jim couldn't honestly care less about. Jim didn't even like Carl, he just tolerated him because he was practically the only person who liked Jim. Sebastian sauntered over to the pair, shoving Carl to the side so that he was seated between the two. "Hey, Jim; Carl," he greeted, flashing Carl a quick smile before grinning over at Jim. "What are you guys talking about?"

Jim gave a pointed shrug, and Carl- who mouth had been his mouth open to answer- closed it, glancing down. The pecking order of the three boys was obvious- Sebastian was in charge, and Jim his second-in-command. Carl was sort of there just to be there.

"Hey, Jim, you know Sally?" Seb asked, beaming.

Jim took a moment to rack his brain. "Oh, her? Yeah, what about her?"

"She was just hitting on me earlier. But you know what that means? She's single. You should try to get her interested," he suggested, smirking. Sally was full of herself, the girl who would walked around in a skimpy tank top and miniskirt that violated the dress code whenever there weren't teachers around, and managed to fix her outfit and make it barely acceptable when there were. If Jim even was interested in a relationship, it wouldn't be in one with her.

"No, Seb, I... No, I don't even like her like that," he replied in a slight mutter. "I don't even think she's cute or anything."

"So? She's kind of cool. Dating her would seriously boost your popularity. Maybe you could actually sit with me at my table without everyone looking daggers at you," he pointed out.

"Listen Seb, I hardly even eat in the cafeteria anyway. It's fine."

If Jim didn't know any better, he'd assume that his comment had offended- or even hurt- Sebastian. But of course, his usual response, 'Jim, stop being ridiculous, this is Sebastian Moran,' echoed through his mind, and he brushed away the assumptions without a second thought.

"Jim, no offense or anything, but don't you want to be cool? Hardly anyone likes you," the boy replied straightforwardly, frowning slightly and not sugar-coating anything. "I mean, I think you're pretty cool, but nobody else'll give you a second thought. Not, anyway, until you do something daring; something noteworthy."

Now, unlike most people, Jim could clearly pick out the meaning behind Seb's words. Not, 'hey, Jim, even I think you're a loser,' or, 'you're not cool enough,' but he had a drive behind what he said, and it was obviously caring. He hadn't spoken to be mean or to convey that he didn't really want to hang around with 'losers' anymore. Heck, even, 'I want you to be cooler because it'll make me look even better than I already do,' wasn't even close. It was more like, 'Jim, I like you as you are, but being 'cool' is really fun, and I think that you would like it and deserve to be part of it. Here's some advice to get you there,' and that was something that Jim really, really appreciated.

"I will, then," Jim firmly replied. "Do something daring and noteworthy. But that something is not dating Sally Donovan."

"Your call, mate," Sebastian responded. "Maybe you should try sports, then. I hear swim team's coming up next quarter. If you get practicing now, you could be pretty good by tryouts. Not my type of sport- luckily for you- but it's pretty easy to get the hang of and a good workout."

Jim shrugged, which, essentially, meant 'no.'

**Hey, Jim. CP**

_Sent at 3:57 PM_

**Hey, Carl. Done with HW? JM**

_Sent at 3:58 PM_

**Yeah, but, ah, I can't come over. CP**

_Sent at 4:00 PM_

**Why? JM**

_Sent at 4:00 PM_

**Taking Seb's advice. CP**

_Sent at 4:02 PM_

**What? JM**

_Sent at 4:02 PM_

**Swimming. CP**

_Sent at 4:03 PM_

Jim stared at his phone for a moment. Well, that was surprising. Carl was a chubby kid, and Jim couldn't see him in any kind of sport. Besides, the suggestion had been aimed at him, not Carl. But, whatever. Not like he cared. Though, the thing Jim did care about? The fact that Carl just would completely blow him off for it.


	2. Two - Tryouts

Over the next couple months, Carl went swimming almost every day, improving his diet gradually. By the time next quarter came around, even Jim and Seb noticed he was losing weight.

"Tryouts are today," Carl told Jim, as the pair headed into the cafeteria.

"I know," Jim answered, flashing the other a smile.

"You gonna watch?" Carl was shaking slightly as he returned Jim's smile with a grin.

"'Course. Seb is coming, too," Jim informed.

Carl's grin widened, and he looked happier than a kid in a candy shop on Christmas morning. Or perhaps even more so than a teenage girl in a mall where everything was free. "Really? He is?" He half-yelled, and Jim couldn't help but grin at his excitement.

"Yeah. We're your best friends, Carl; we wouldn't dream of missing it."

Jim stood next to Sebastian later that evening, watching Carl glide almost effortlessly through the water. He was still a bit chubby, sure, but he was pretty fast regardless.

"You should've tried, too, Jim. If you'd practiced with him, you'd probably have a six-pack," Seb commented under his breath as he watched Carl. Jim shrugged in response, electing not to reply.

As soon as Carl's tryouts were over and the boy had pulled himself out of the pool, Seb raised hid hand to give him a high-five. Water was still dripping off of him as he reached a hand up to slap Sebs, before wrapping Jim in a hug. After standing awkwardly for a moment while his mind went to war with itself, Jim returned the hug, somehow making the situation even more uncomfortable.

"Good job, Carl," he said with a smile.

"Yeah; I'd be surprised if you didn't make the team," Seb put in. He was grinning at Carl, a look of uncontrollable excitement in his eyes, now spreading across his entire face, and Jim couldn't help but stare. He'd never seen an expression quite like that one on Seb the entire time the pair had known each other.

_'God, I'd _kill_ for him to grin at me like that,'_ Jim found himself thinking, before mentally slapping himself. He had known he was weird, but he wasn't a psychopath. Jim Moriarty was sane enough to know he'd never make Sebastian Moran that proud.

Besides, at some point, Seb had stopped grinning at Carl, instead turning his attentions towards a few girls in bikinis- fairly skimpy bikinis, mind you. And he'd been staring long enough that they were giggling and standing somewhat suggestively. And of course, Seb was winking and chuckling slightly- being flirtatious in any way possible without actually speaking- as he stared.

"Jim; Carl, either of you need a ride home?" He asked the pair after a moment, finally turning back to the both of them.

"Nah, my mom's picking me up," Carl replied, while Jim simply shook his head. He lived fairly close, and if he could catch a bus or a cab, he'd be home fast enough.

"Well, see you guys around, then," he replied, walking out. Jim followed soon after, pulling out a pencil and a spare sheet of notebook paper. He titled it, "Daring and Noteworthy Things I Can do to Get Seb's Attention." Jim couldn't think of a word to write. He sat there for a while, chewing on the end of his pencil as he thought, waiting for a bus to stop, or a free cab to drive by, or, well, something.

Jim hailed a cab not long afterwards, without a single addition to his paper. Maybe fifteen minutes later, he climbed out at his house after paying the cabbie, and still no ideas were listed. An hour in his bedroom passed, filled with intense thinking, and yet not a single new word was scrawled unto the page. With a frustrated sigh, Jim pinned the paper to the wall above his bed. He'd think of something, someday, and write it down. Eventually.


	3. Three - Change

Carl asked out Sally Donovan. She said yes. Seb was impressed. Carl was fit and popular. He always ate lunch with Seb. Jim still ate in the computer lab. He avoided the cafeteria at all costs. He was certain that nobody liked him. Not even Carl. Especially not Seb. Jim's list was still blank. Carl kept texting him things like 'hey, u should join the bball team'. No grammar, bad spelling- and what was 'bball' supposed to mean? Baseball, basketball, what? Regardless, Jim hated Carl's new-found popularity and how it was getting to his head. What he hadn't noticed was that Seb could tell.

"Moriarty!" Sebastian called through the throng of students in the hallway, and Jim, recognizing his voice immediately, spun around.

"Hey, Sebastian! need anything?" He replied.

"Meet me outside at lunch, by the big tree?"

"Sure," had been Jim's response, before he ducked into his next classroom. Now he was begrudgingly seated at the base of the three, tearing bites from his peanut butter and jelly sandwich. He didn't even _like_ peanut butter and jelly. Though, lately, he wasn't liking a lot of things, and he hardly noticed Seb plop down beside him.

"So, I haven't been seeing much of you around lately," he commented after a moment.

"You're right," Jim replied simply. And the average person would have thought nothing of it. But Seb? He was not 'the average person,' and he could tell that Jim was upset.

"Is this about Carl?" He asked. Jim thought for a short while, before giving a nod. "You don't think that since he's 'popular' or whatever, I prefer him." Jim didn't respond, and by the look on his face, Seb knew that was exactly what it was. "I don't, you know. Just because he's a swimmer now doesn't make him better, Jim, I swear. You're still just as much my friend as he is. I promise, Jim, nothing's changed in my eyes." And while that wasn't _quite _perfect, not _exactly_ what he wanted... it was enough for Jim. After all, it was more than he had dared to hope for. The two boys just sat and ate their food in an appreciative silence the rest of the period, not even knowing that their conversation wasn't as private as they had thought.

A/N: Okay, okay, I know how short this chapter is, but there was really nothing I could fit in there, and I really wanted to get it up! Next chapter will be a lot more interesting.


End file.
